


Building Roads

by SaraJaye



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Building A New Home, Cooking, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Friendship, Gardens & Gardening, Post-Movie(s), Present Tense, Romance, farm life, movieverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 08:17:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2766095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd only meant to stay the night, but the night became the next day. By the time a week has passed, Utena isn't even sure she wants to leave anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building Roads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panny/gifts).



When the engine sputters to a stop, Ohtori Acacemy is only a vague memory. Two young women, still naked after their rather strange experience, find themselves in an empty field with only stalks of wheat to hide their nudity in the event anyone else passes by. Not that that's likely, it's so late at night and there doesn't seem to be anyone here for miles.

"Here, Miss Utena." The one previously known as the Rose Bride grabs two large sheets from a nearby clothesline, tossing one to her partner. "It wouldn't do for you to catch a cold."

"Thank you, Anthy." Utena wraps the sheet around herself, it doesn't do much to protect her from the cold but it's better than nothing. "But please don't call me 'Miss' anymore, okay?"

"I'll do my best," Anthy promises, taking her hand as they approach the house. Utena shivers, there's something forbidding about it and she wonders if they should keep going until they find a motel. But it's late and they're both tired and she can still feel the wind through the sheet.

They go to knock on the door, but there's no answer and when they look in the driveway they see no car, no truck or even a bicycle. _It must be abandoned._

Seeing no reason not to, they walk through the open door and into a mess.

The front room is musty and covered with dust and cobwebs, Anthy sneezing as she attempts to navigate. It's dark even after Utena finds a lamp to turn on and it looks like no one's lived there in years. A sofa covered with a dirty blanket, stacks of dusty books, a grandfather clock that no longer runs.

"It's the best we can do for tonight," Utena says. "I promise we'll look for somewhere better tomorrow, Anthy."

"If we have time. We'll need to buy new clothes and food and other provisions first," Anthy reminds her. She doesn't say it, still not entirely used to speaking her mind, but she may be falling in love with the dirty old farmhouse.

 

They spend the night on the couch, ignoring the smell and keeping each other warm with their bodies. Night seems to go quickly, the next thing Utena is aware of is sunlight filtering through the tiny window and the smell of bacon frying and eggs scrambling.

"They had plenty of food in their refrigerator, and it still smelled good," Anthy explains as she brings in two plates. "I also checked the closests. There are a few dresses that might fit us until we go shopping for new clothes."

"Thank you, Anthy. This should get us through the next day or two." Utena digs in, relieved to find that the eggs taste normal and the bacon is as fresh as Anthy thought it was. The toast is a bit well done and the jam overly sweet, but given the freshness the house can't have been abandoned for _too_ long.

"We should clean the house, too. We can't very well stay in such a musty environment. And the animals need to be taken care of!" Anthy's already treating the house like it's theirs, while Utena's not sure what to make of it. But it will still be a while before they can find a place of their own, so for now she decides to just go along with it.

They finish breakfast, take their showers and dress, Utena in overalls and a flannel shirt and Anthy in a calico-print dress. They look silly, but the clothes are comfortable and warmer than going around in sheets would have been.

"I wonder what happened to the owners," Anthy muses as they set to work. "Every other room in the house is cleaner than the front room, but not very organized."

"Maybe they're just poor housekeepers." Utena pushes a stack of books onto its side and eases it onto a nearby shelf. "Or they could be on vacation. Anthy, this isn't _our_ home. We should-"

"I think they simply longed for something grander," the other girl interrupts. "When you've spent your entire life one way, you find yourself longing for the opposite." The tone behind her words is impossible to miss, and Utena only nods in understanding. Those who live simply long for more, those who live luxuriously long for less. One of life's many paradoxes.

"Perhaps."

But she still isn't sure she wants to stay _here._

 

She has to admit the house looks rather cozy and pretty once it's been cleaned, especially the front room. There's a lot more space than they realized after they've taken the trash outside in bundles and put away all the books and other trinkets lying around. Anthy's clearly pleased with herself, and Utena can't deny her own sense of pride at such an accomplishment.

"There! This looks much more like a house people will want to visit. Now, let's tend to the animals!" Frankly Utena's surprised they didn't do that first, but now that she can breathe without choking on dust...well, maybe the animals didn't mind waiting.

She's greeted by at least four cows, a pen of piglets and two larger pigs, a hen house half full and a large sheepdog. They certainly don't look abandoned, there's still a decent supply of food left behind.

"I think the owners did go on vacation," Utena muses.

"Perhaps." Anthy doesn't sound like she believes her. After the animals have all been fed they gather eggs laid by two of the hens and milk one of the cows. Sheepdog prances about the farmyard, barking and sniffing at them until Anthy has to stop her work to pet him. "Isn't he sweet?" They're pretty sure it's male, at least, judging by his size. "I think he needs to be groomed, though, his fur is a mess!"

"We'll give him a bath." Utena can't help but like this dog, too. As a child she'd always wanted a pet, but her father was allergic to fur and dander. "I wonder what his name is? Maybe we ought to give him one." He wears a collar, but his tag only shows the address of this house. Did the owners just not bother to name him?

"Chu-Chu." It slips seamlessly from Anthy's lips, and Utena can't quite make the connection. But the dog likes it, and it does sound cute. So Chu-Chu it is. They spend half an hour bathing him, or maybe more. Utena can't really tell, and most of the time is spent trying to keep him in the tub and accidentally splashing each other. Utena can't remember the last time she had this much fun doing something so mundane, and she's almost sorry to see it end.

But at last, Chu-Chu is clean and fluffy after shaking his fur off, and follows them into the house. He barks and yips at everything he sees, much to their amusement.

"He's never been inside before, I guess!" Anthy giggles. "It's okay, Chu-Chu, from now on you'll live in here with us!"

"Or for the next few days," Utena protests, surprised at how weak it sounds. _We can't stay here, remember? This is someone else's home._

But a small part of her is beginning to wish it wasn't.

 

They tend to the fields and the gardens after lunch, surprised at how much time has passed since sunrise. They pick vegetables and clear out the weeds and brush, till the soil and plant more seeds.

"Look at all these tomatoes, Miss Utena," Anthy remarks. "They must really love them."

"Good thing there's a lot we can do with tomatoes before we get tired of them." There's potatoes and carrots, too, and one head of lettuce hasn't wilted. They can make a salad for dinner, and baked potatoes to go with whatever meat Anthy decides to fix. There's still the smokehouse to check up on, after all, and the orchards.

In less than a day they've become farmers, somehow. No experience besides Anthy's green thumb and way with animals, but they just seem to know what to do. Not that any of the work seems like _work_ after a while, even the hardest tasks are so rewarding.

They go inside for to rest after they're done with the fields, Anthy looking happier than Utena ever remembers her looking. _She seems made for this kind of life, doesn't she?_ But it's only temporary, she reminds herself, sooner or later they'll be leaving the farm for an apartment or a house somewhere.

She hopes Anthy won't be _too_ disappointed.

"This is amazing," she says as they dig in to the stew Anthy's prepared. With a side salad and a chewy bread to accompany it, it's one of the best meals Utena's ever had. Maybe even _the_ best. "Where did you learn to cook?"

"The recipe file in the kitchen," Anthy admits. "Although, I've always had an interest in cooking. I never had a chance to do it myself, but I would read my brother's cookbooks at night." There's a wistful tone to her words and Utena wonders if she misses him even a little, even knowing the kind of person he was.

"Anthy..."

"But that's all in the past, of course!" the other girl quickly says. "I have that recipe file to teach me how to cook, and there's always trial and error." She smiles. "We're building our own roads, Miss Utena. Just like we promised." And she remembers, the two of them clinging to the car's skeleton, flying through the night at near-breakneck speed, Anthy's lips touching hers as they coasted into a life beyond that place. _There are no roads out there, we'll build our own._

But is this really the road for them? It's still someone else's place, they're just playing caretaker until the family returns, right? Chu-Chu, the cows and the chickens, the orchards, the bedrooms, they're not theirs. She focuses on her salad for a moment before looking up and simply nodding.

"We'll find our destination someday, Anthy. And remember, you don't have to call me 'Miss' anymore."

"Sorry about that, Miss-er, Utena." Anthy chuckles. "It's going to take some getting used to."

They tend to the orchards after dinner, picking baskets of apples and pears and cutting dead leaves off the orange trees. Luckily the cellar is large enough to hold all the baskets, and Utena found a supply of jars. Maybe tomorrow they'll pickle some vegetables and slice apples for pies.

_But only for the owners, when they come back,_ she thinks as they settle into the cozy queen bed. It's soft and comfortable, much more than the couch, and the heated flatiron at the foot keeps their toes warm as the night goes cool.

"Sleep well, Miss Utena."

"Pleasant dreams, Anthy."

As her eyes grow heavy and a pleasant tiredness sets in, Utena tries to stave off the feeling that this is becoming home.

 

The next morning goes as smoothly as the first one, albeit with a few bumps. Chu-Chu steals a piece of bacon from the table, the hens are fussy and the cow knocks over the pail of milk. Rabbits got into the garden, prompting Anthy to build a fence from chicken wire. And pickling is more of a job than either anticipated, the solution isn't even ready by the end of the day.

"Okay, we'll stay till the end of the week," Utena concedes. Or until the owners come home and chase them away, whichever comes first.

But every day, she finds her resolve weakening. There's always something to do between the animals and the fields and keeping the house neat, and by the week's end people are stopping by to welcome them. It's at this point that Utena learns the owners did indeed move to the city and don't plan on coming back.

"They didn't bother to keep the place looking so nice, either," one neighbor says as he and his mother drop by with homemade cookies and a vase full of daisies. "You ladies have done it a favor! Never seen the old dog lookin' so happy, either."

"They never named him? How sad." Anthy scratches behind Chu-Chu's ear.

"Nope, they just let 'im wander onto the property to chase away rabbits," the old woman says. "Don't think the Wilts were bad folks, just a little scatterbrained. Sure they'd be happy to see what you're doin' with their place, at least."

"See, Utena?" Anthy prompts when the last of the visitors leave. "We were meant to live here after all!"

For once, Utena can't argue. She has no more reason to protest, not with the owners gone. And as they sit down to dinner that night, she wonders if maybe this was the road they were meant to build after all.

It's not until they go to bed that night that Utena realizes Anthy has stopped calling her 'Miss'.

 

A week turns into two, two weeks turn into a month and soon it's as if they've lived at the old farmhouse their whole lives. They've gotten to know the neighbors and the locals, learned their way around the nearby town, even helped some of their new friends pickle their own vegetables and learned to make preserves from the surplus of apples.

"Do you still want to leave now, Utena?" Anthy asks one rainy afternoon as they sit at the living room table, putting together a six-hundred piece jigsaw puzzle Anthy found in a closet a week ago. _Their closet._ This is their living room, the pigs and the chickens and the cows are their animals, the big bedroom is their bedroom.

By now Utena can't believe she ever wanted to live anywhere else. Even if they do build other roads in their lifetime, they'll always take the one that leads them back here.

"Never," she says, setting the piece down and laying her hand against Anthy's. "We're home, Anthy."

Their lips touch, softly at first before the contact deepens and the puzzle piece in Utena's hand is dropped onto the table, the project soon forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Chu-Chu wasn't actually in the movie, so the dog being named that is my way of bringing him back into Utena and Anthy's lives.
> 
> As for Utena and Anthy becoming farmers, I thought that kind of life suited Anthy myself, and Utena would eventually adjust. I also like the concept of going from "this is only temporary" to "it's home" displayed here, with Utena slowly realizing how much she likes the old farm house.


End file.
